J.K. Rowling Outs Dumbledore

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Contarini said:
Exactly. I was not suggesting for an instant that there was any truth (in the subcreated world of the story) to this hint. I was responding to a post that said that if Skeeter had had any inklings that Dumbledore was gay (by inclination) she would have used it somehow.

It’s not really a subject worth discussing further!

Edwin
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hehehe exactly 🙂
 
Merged the three separate threads on the same topic into one thread. Please continue your discussion. 🙂
 
In my opinion, this was better left unsaid.

Imagine all of the English majors who could have been awarded Ph.D.s for poring through Rowling’s writings, deconstructing the text, reading between the lines, speculating into the sexual preferences and unspoken motivations of her characters.

Now she’s gone and short-circuited all of that.
 
Bobby_Jim said:
In my opinion, this was better left unsaid.

Imagine all of the English majors who could have been awarded Ph.D.s for poring through Rowling’s writings, deconstructing the text, reading between the lines, speculating into the sexual preferences and unspoken motivations of her characters.

Now she’s gone and short-circuited all of that.
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She’s destroyed a million scholarly careers in one, fell swoop. I guess all those would-be-academics now have an excuse to become fiction writers.😃
 
Ack, doesn’t she see that her little “announcement” will keep the Harry Potter controversy going on ANOTHER 3000 years? I thought the Harry Potter stuff would die down but I guess we’ll have to wait until people find something else to cry over.

I can see the “concerned parent who thinks their kids are the dumbest beings on the planet” now:

“Oh no! JK Rowling said Dumbledore is gay! This means our kids, who have already been affected by the “witchcraft” in the book and are sacrificing black cats to Satan, will be GAY too (which is even worse) even though it’s not mentioned or even implied in the books!”

Sheesh.
 
😊
Orthodox_Guy said:
Ack, doesn’t she see that her little “announcement” will keep the Harry Potter controversy going on ANOTHER 3000 years? I thought the Harry Potter stuff would die down but I guess we’ll have to wait until people find something else to cry over.

I can see the “concerned parent who thinks their kids are the dumbest beings on the planet” now:

“Oh no! JK Rowling said Dumbledore is gay! This means our kids, who have already been affected by the “witchcraft” in the book and are sacrificing black cats to Satan, will be GAY too (which is even worse) even though it’s not mentioned or even implied in the books!”

Sheesh.
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There are still two more huge Harry Potter events to come. The release of The Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows movies

I understand when that is done she is going to write another book called Harry Potter the Gay avenger
 
estesbob said:
😊

There are still two more huge Harry Potter events to come. The release of The Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows movies
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Don’t forget the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, FL. I think its scheduled to open in 2008 or 2009.
 
Ahimsa said:
She’s destroyed a million scholarly careers in one, fell swoop. I guess all those would-be-academics now have an excuse to become fiction writers.😃
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You mean those academic analyses aren’t fiction? 😃
 
Sexuallity shouldn’t make it into kids books. I don’t care which way you swing, just keep it away from the young ones.
 
My teen daughter is an avid reader, and she got hooked on the series and read the whole series this summer. I have listened to the first 2 on tape, and I am not part of the book banning school of thought. It is naive to think banning a book will keep it out of most kids hands, in fact I spent much of my childhood reading banned books by flashlight at night and hiding them in my mattress. My daughter reports that some of her friends do the same. I would rather read a book with my daughter, which provides us an opportunity to talk about values. We actually had a nice debate over whether this ‘outing’ of Dumbledore was a ploy to irritate the Christian right who have denounced her books or an actual revelation that she just felt the need to wait several years to reveal. We also had a talk about how empty the Christmas scenes in the book were, without inclusion of the child Jesus, more just a cultural celebration than religious, and how the Lord God is the only true ‘defense against the dark arts’ .
 
feargalmac said:
👍

Well said. There was no reason to say what she said, except to cause scandal,:mad:
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In a way, I’m glad she did it - maybe she got tired of all the radical christians claiming its the work of the devil - a nice poke in their eye, imo

Its more of scandal for supposed christians to tell others they are sinning or slapping god in the face if they read these books then her saying a charactor is gay
 
Here is a bit on J.K. Rowlings response to the hype surrounding her statement that Dumbledore is gay:

the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/23/j-k-rowling-on-dumbledore-revelation-i-m-not-kidding

You can also see a transcript of how GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) responds to the news:

the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/24/leaky-interview-with-glaad-the-gay-and-lesbian-alliance-against-defamation

Personally, I don’t think that this was some calculated move on Rowlings part just to stir up publicity. It seems she has felt that Dumbledore was gay from early on and only said so now because she was posed a direct question.

That being said, I still think it’s unfortunate that all this came out, mostly because it’s left ambiguous and she yields such a tremendous influence.

Of course, I’d much prefer her to leave it ambiguous than for her to say that Dumbledore had no problem with acting on his SSA or that he had acted on it at some point in time!

I suppose I understand her not getting that specific about it, though. Either way she would alienate some of her fans.
 
YinYangMom said:
That, to me, is a taunting against the authority of the Church from the author herself, and would be enough for me to consider not reading her works. She pretty much openly professes in that statement that she writes with a purpose - to encourage her readers to question authority and promote tolerance, and upsetting Christians is a badge of honor for her.
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I see it more as her taunting the Christian GROUPS (read: NOT THE CHURCH) and the groups are the ones that have been taunting her for years.

I have issues with the groups that slammed the books, having never read one of them, and also accusing the books of promoting things that the books don’t promote (I have read them all)

I’m not saying that any one needs to read the books - I still haven’t finished Great Expectations, despite starting it in the ninth grade! - but don’t let her response to her detractors prevent you from giving them a try.
👍
 
Here’s an article I came across from a Catholic perspective. I think it more clearly states what a lot of people on this thread have been trying to say about why they are concerned:

catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0328.htm

Here’s a clip from the article (emphasis added):
Dumbledore’s gayness is a brand new element, and from a literary point of view, absolutely inappropriate. There is nothing wrong with Dumbledore being gay in terms of Rowling’s imaginative understanding of her character, but the gratuitous projection of this information into the books is inconsistent with the general character of her imaginary world, and in readers’ minds will retroactively distort everything Dumbledore has said and done.
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However, as a symbol for gay activists eager to inculcate knowledge about human sexuality at the earliest possible age, Rowling’s revelation has been a marketing godsend. Sadly, the mighty and inscrutable wizard, in whom sexuality was properly irrelevant, will henceforth dwindle in the minds of readers into the merely gay headmaster.
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Dtmccameron said:
Sexuallity shouldn’t make it into kids books. I don’t care which way you swing, just keep it away from the young ones.
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But the important thing to remember here is that sexuality DIDN’T make its way into the Potter books. All 7 books are available, try and find homosexuality in them.
 
TomPiltoff said:
But the important thing to remember here is that sexuality DIDN’T make its way into the Potter books. All 7 books are available, try and find homosexuality in them.
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Well, yes, exactly, but being gay doesn’t refer to same sex attraction or a particular lifestyle, it refers to a particular nasty sin of the sexual sort.

After all, people arent gay, they’re homosexual

And quite simply, no amount of sexuality should make it self seen to children. I myself thought the books too oversexed as it was, with much kissing and caressing. Amongst children. Disturbing.
 
Dtmccameron said:
Well, yes, exactly, but being gay doesn’t refer to same sex attraction or a particular lifestyle, it refers to a particular nasty sin of the sexual sort.
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No, it refers to same sex attraction, which logically leads to homosexual acts.

I agree that Rowling shouldn’t have outed Dumbledore because it only leads to division and controversy.

But she did out him, and I fall on the side of the fence of people who don’t think it’s a big deal seeing as how it didn’t affect the books.
 
Dtmccameron said:
Well, yes, exactly, but being gay doesn’t refer to same sex attraction or a particular lifestyle, it refers to a particular nasty sin of the sexual sort.

After all, people arent gay, they’re homosexual

And quite simply, no amount of sexuality should make it self seen to children. I myself thought the books too oversexed as it was, with much kissing and caressing. Amongst children. Disturbing.
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Can you imagine that! High school kids kissing! One only wonders what kind of perversions we will see in books next!
 
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